Thursday, January 17, 2013

We made it to Kona, and are two weeks into our discipleship training school and all I can say is that this is so much more than I could've ever dreamed up. We, Aaron and I and our children needed this so much more than we ever knew. Our days are SO busy. We wake up early, drop our girls off at school, drop Josiah off with his nanny and head to class at 8:00 am. We have class from 8-12, prayer room from 1-3 and then Wednesdays we have community outreach/service, and Monday and Thursday nights are filled with ministry time in the prayer room and community night as well. We are so tired and ready for bed by 9:00 most nights because it's really nonstop. Thankfully they have grace over families, or else I might pass out from exhaustion. But just to clarify, it's a good exhaustion. It is SO good here. Being in the presence of the holy spirit on a regular basis and being surrounded by young people who are so in love and hungry to learn more about Jesus is SO good! I didn't realize how asleep I was in the spirit until God started to awaken me here. And this place is so anointed with His presence that it didn't take long to realize it. Last week was eye opening to how we were missing the basics of knowing how to share the gospel. We make it so hard and let things like being passive or afraid of what others might think of us, or fear of being rejected keep us from sharing it. It's so simple and we make it so difficult in our minds. So it was stretching, but amazing as our leaders put us on the spot and had us stand up and pretend the person in front of us didn't know Jesus and we shared the gospel with them. It really showed us how lacking we were in basic knowledge of the simple gospel.
I know it's hard to say that week 2 was my favorite week, because it's only week 2 now, but I think it will remain my favorite, because this week was a week of being set free of past hurts and words people spoke over us. This week was Pure Heart week. It was the most powerful teaching on inner healing I have been a part of in my Christian walk. We watched as chains fell off of people's hearts. Wounds that they didn't even know they were carrying were being healed. Words do not do this teaching justice. Every church should have Tom and Donna Cole come do a Pure Heart seminar and the body of Christ would be transformed. It is SO POWERFUL! Aaron and I had lots of deep rooted hurts uprooted this week. We have gone through many inner healing ministry times in our marriage, but this one has been the most powerful by far. And in turn, we have been hearing God speak so much more clearly now. Amazing how that works. The more junk you get healed from, or the more you become free of Satan's lies that you have believed for so long about yourself, the more you hear God's voice. You don't have all those lies floating around anymore, so you can hear TRUTH! Man! It's such good stuff!
One big revelation I got today happened while we were in the prayer room. We were asking God to give us a bigger revelation of His heart for the lost. He spoke so clearly and I thought to myself "Oh my gosh, why didn't I get this before!!!??" I prayed, ' God, I need your heart for the lost. Give me a bigger revelation of your heart for those who don't know you.' He answered me and said,"Do you remember how you felt when I broke your heart for orphans? Do you remember crying and crying and your heart breaking for children with no mother or father? Do you remember feeling like your heart was going to explode when you were so broken and so desperate to bring your son home? Your heart ached until he was home with you." He said, "that is how I feel about all my children who haven't been adopted into my kingdom yet. " They are all orphans in spirit, and I long to bring them home to me, to be their Father. " He told me that the spirit of adoption needed to be poured out on all followers of Jesus, so they would understand His heart for those who are spiritually orphaned. Later He also told me, " Do you remember when you were contacting your congressman, and Senators to help bring Josiah home, and you were so frustrated because you knew that they knew what was going on, but they didn't do anything to help bring him home?" 'Yes, Lord! I was so frustrated and angry at their passivity.' He said, "That is how I feel when my followers don't do anything about my children who are spiritually orphaned." WOW! In a nutshell the Lord showed me why He allowed us to suffer during our adoption. It was an utterly agonizing time in our life. Gut wrenching to the core everyday, until our son was home. At the time I didn't understand why He was allowing us to go through that, but now I am so thankful that God used that experience to bring such profound revelation of His heart for the lost. This is only week 2. I can't wait to see what week 3 will bring!